Breanna Sykes

Hey there! I never really know how to introduce myself properly but here it goes. I am originally from New York but when my husband joined the Marine Corps we had to move to Jacksonville, NC. I absolutely love the south. The people are nicer, the weather is better, and it's a great place to raise a family. Which is why I'm here. My husband and I have a beautiful daughter Abigail Yvonne. He has been deployed for her first year but will be coming home shortly. It will be an interesting transition that I look forward to sharing with you! My life might not be all that interesting but being a mom sure is! Follow my blogs and see what I'm talking about.

Brynn Reese

I grew up in here in North Carolina and attended Duke for my undergraduate and UNC-Chapel Hill for my master’s degrees. I moved up north to Boston after completing school and worked there for five years as an inner-city middle and high school history teacher. While in Boston, I met my husband, Chad, who was there for school, and we were married the summer of 2004. 2007 was a big year for us – we welcomed our son, Nathan, Chad finished school, and we moved to Jacksonville for a great job opportunity for Chad. Nineteen months after Nathan was born, our daughter, Emily, joined our family. Twenty-two months later, Joshua came along. I’m now a stay-at-home mom to my little brood, having “retired” from teaching after Nathan’s arrival. When I’m not busy feeding, cleaning, dressing, and keeping up with Nathan, Emily, Joshua, and their dad, I enjoy reading, quilting, and going to the beach. I also still cheer for my beloved Blue Devils whenever the opportunity arises and thoroughly enjoyed last season’s national championship. Go Duke! Life can be a little busy around here (hello – three kids under the age of four!), but I’m looking forward to sharing life with three active little ones with you.

jessica-lowe

A Family of Fun!

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This is our most recent family picture taken just a few weeks ago by my most talented sister, Amy at Daisy Photography. I wanted something fun and different that depicted WHO our family was. How do you like it?!

My family isn’t like any ordinary family.  I like to think of us as a big compilation of many unique personalities which combine to make one wickedly awesome team.  I encourage my kids to be themselves, to find out who they are and to own it!  I love personality, but one thing I can’t stand is when someone isn’t confident in who they are, so they adapt the different personalities of the people they hang out with the most. 

Unfortunately, I’ve seen a lot of this lately and it’s made me realize how important it is to teach my children that they need to stay true to themselves.  Instilling good morals and values in their little lives help them to know that they will be loved no matter what kind of personality they have. 

My Jake and Kora are both little fireball leaders but in two totally different ways.  Jakob is a leader because he stands up for what he knows is right and I think other kids admire that trait.  Kora is a leader because she knows how to make ANY situation fun and kids cling to her.  Sadly, two leaders usually end up butting heads quite often and that’s exactly the case in our house.  Jake and Kora fight like no other!

Jeremiah is the comedian of the family.  He’s a class clown and loves to laugh.  He’s pretty laid back and usually gets along with almost any personality type.  I love that about him! 

Isaak is my rowdy monster but he’s probably my most cuddly too if you can believe that!  I’m excited to see how his personality grows as he gets older.  He’s constantly surprising us.

August is my dream boat.  He just kind of hangs out for now given that he’s only 6 months old and can’t really do much himself.  He likes to see what mom is doing and follow me around like a little koala on my arm.

Austin, my husband, is a fabulous dad and LOVES spending time in the front yard playing with the kids.  He works really hard at his job so this sometimes puts him on another planet when he gets home.  With all the different activities going on that are involved when you have 5 kids, even the dad can sometimes be a little lost.

And me?  Well, I LOVE to blog, I LOVE my iphone and I LOVE my family.  Each and every unique one of them!

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2 Comments on “A Family of Fun!”

  • Erica May 4th, 2010 11:30 pm

    Jessica,
    I love the picture. THanks for sharing with us.

    Five kids.. wow.. I am 30 and just had my first born almost 6 months ago.. HOW DO YOU DO IT? I am working on getting back down to my pre-pregnancy size as I gained almost 50 lbs during my pregnancy. I have lost a total of 34 lbs so far, but these last 15 are kicking my butt. What would you recommend?
    -Erica

  • Jessica Lowe Jessica Lowe May 5th, 2010 7:53 am

    Everyone always asks me how do i do it and my answer remains the same…i have NO idea. I just keep using the excuse that I’m constantly in survival mode. *shrug*

    Those last 10-15 lbs are the WORST! I too gained a lot of weight with almost all of my pregnancies and have been fortunate enough to get back to pre preggo size within a year. Right NOW, i’m working on getting back down to pre BABY size…which is much harder…yikes.

    As far as what can help, I go to the gym every morning (mon-fri) and do at least 45-60 min of cardio. switch it up so you don’t get bored, you don’t have to spend the whole time on ONE machine.

    I do a little weights, but not too much, just enough to keep some muscle tone and I usually only do them about 3 times a week.

    Eat A LOT while you work out. Not neccessarily big portions, but LOTS of mealtimes. With your body burning so much fat, you’re gonna need the energy and it helps to not put your body in shock and continue to BURN fat. With a busy life, protein bars have become my best friend because I usually don’t have time or forget to actually sit down and eat something.

    Thanks for the comment!!!

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